


The Light Through the Frame

by ayatsujik



Category: Natsume Yuujinchou | Natsume's Book of Friends
Genre: F/M, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-10-12
Updated: 2017-10-12
Packaged: 2019-01-16 09:46:26
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,923
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12340242
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ayatsujik/pseuds/ayatsujik
Summary: Natsume isn't the only reason they spend time together.





	The Light Through the Frame

**Author's Note:**

> A ficlet inspired (as is usual these days) by conversations with @killjoyras - this time, about how Taki and Tanuma are young Touko and Shigeru. Sankyu~ <3 Slight spoiler for the Tsukihigui episode (anime season 6 episode 1, manga chapter 78).

 

Taki never contributed to the gossip that happened between periods and during the recesses that she ate in the classroom. She didn't really know how to, and she didn't know half the people it concerned. But the other girls usually included her in their chatter, and she didn't mind, having found a way of smiling and making appropriately vague responses along the lines of "that might be it" or "oh, really" when her opinion was demanded; things that allowed her to avoid taking anyone's side.

It was fun just to listen, besides, as a quiet part of the circle. She hadn't been close to anyone in junior high, mostly because of the struggles and silence enforced by her spirit curse. She was grateful for the friendliness of her current classmates.

Gossip encompassed all manner of things, including famous actors, like a certain one whose company Natsume had been known to keep, and the latest TV shows. But it was, by and large, about boys. Mostly the ones who shared the school grounds with them. Sometimes the discussion centred on boys who were already dating girls, but for the most part it was about single (as far as anyone knew) boys: who was dateable, who wasn't, why, and when. They went round evaluating targets from various years and classes in no particular order, excoriating or lavishing approval as they deemed appropriate.

Taki just smiled, every time, and said nothing.

One day they got around to discussing the candidates in Class 3 of their year. The only boys Taki knew there were Kitamoto and Tanuma; her ears pricked up when she heard their names. Most of the girls thought that if anyone was going to date any boy in Class 3, it would be Kitamoto, whose warm smile and broad-shouldered height and sunny personality had earned him several undercover fans. A breakaway contingent rooted for Tanuma, on the grounds that he didn't seem anything special at first glance, but the longer you looked at him the more you noticed he was handsome, in a sort of charmingly understated way. He seemed dark and aloof, but when you actually tried talking to him, he was always friendly and obliging. And he was decent in the height-and-shoulders department, although he really needed a better haircut. Possibly a meatier diet, too, given that unfortunate proneness to anaemia and migraines.

 _Anyway_ , wasn't it kind of cool that he was going to inherit a temple? That meant he was kind of rich, wasn't he? Plus, that best friend of his from Class 2 - Natsume-kun, right? - was also quite attractive, if you liked them small and pretty and fair. Though, weren't there rumours about him being more than a bit strange? What with the tendency to faint and scream at empty air or randomly run away, as witnessed by multiple people at various points throughout the term. Oh, but then again Kitamoto-kun and that Nishimura-kun from Class 2 - the one who always acts funny around you, Taki! - said that Natsume-kun was still suffering from the trauma of a difficult childhood, the poor thing. If they said so, that's probably just how it was.

Tanuma-kun's getting kind of popular, Taki thought - after a very brief moment of wondering what they meant about Nishimura-kun - and smiled to herself.

She had a hunch that Tanuma wouldn't be particularly pleased even if word got around to him. Something told her he wouldn't believe it, or think it important, in any case. He would definitely be amused, though. She imagined the look on his face, and the snort he wouldn't be able to stifle.

/They haven't talked to me enough,/ he might say, quirking his mouth in that warm, wry way he did sometimes.

What would her classmates would say if they found out she actually talked to Tanuma quite often?

Natsume was responsible for most of the time they spent together, but still. When Taki thought about it, she couldn't help noticing that Tanuma, of late, had developed a distinct habit of wandering up to tell her things. That Nyanko-sensei was around, if she wanted a squeeze. That Natsume was having an issue, had she also noticed. Or that the rest of them were having lunch together, and did she want to come, too.

Sometimes she saw him on the way home, on the occasions he wasn't heading back with Natsume and the other boys. If they had nowhere else to be they'd just fall to talking, sitting on a patch of grassy riverbank, or in the shade of a tree if it was warm. They'd discuss Natsume, and possible avenues of helping him. One prospect they'd thought of had been spending more time with her grandfather's materials in the Taki residence's storehouse, or doing some research amongst the elder Tanuma's esoteric books, respectively, and then getting together to compare notes. But those conversations were interspersed with tales of new cupcake flavours, or Nyanko-sensei sightings, and even various genres of media starring Natori Shuuichi. Taki had the sense Tanuma brought up Natori Shuuichi only because he knew she was a fan. He definitely wasn't - most boys didn't understand sparkling, after all - and the carefully expressionless face he wore when talking about him always made her want to giggle and tell Natsume.

(The only reason she didn't tell Natsume was because she was fairly certain he would start worrying about Tanuma having a non-existent problem with Natori Shuuichi. Taki hadn't quite made up her mind about what Natori Shuuichi was to Natsume, yet, but it was clear enough that he wasn't an ordinary kind of friend. She suspected Tanuma would agree, whenever she found a time to bring this up to him.)

Tanuma was _comfortable_ , she thought. Like a sweater, or a favourite cardigan. A presence you could count on to be warm and solid and sensible, with a sense of humour that kept things on an even keel. She appreciated how thoughtful he could be, all discreet kindness and easy concern. And it was sweet to see how much he cared about Natsume. How much he worried about his safety, how he constantly looked for ways to support him.

How he understood that she felt the same way about Natsume, too.

They couldn't leave Natsume alone because they recognised loneliness when they saw it - the kind of loneliness compelled by having to live with an awareness of that which no one else could perceive. They knew what it was to be afraid of things that they couldn't see, except through migraines or spirit possession or artificial magic. What it was to yearn to encounter those same things, in their more benign or beautiful guises. Natsume was the closest either of them would ever come to communicating with the spirit world.

For Taki, too, Natsume unlocked a fount of tenderness she hadn't known she possessed. Every so often she still thought of the time that youkai had turned him back into a child, and the hard, blank wall he'd pulled over his face as a defense against disappointment. How he hadn't believed that he was wanted. Part of her wanted to reach out and hug him, whenever she saw him fall into one of his usual pits of earnestness; whenever she saw the look of deep, patient melancholy that so often crossed his face, or the way he tried so hard to protect those around him.

When the three of them were together, Tanuma and her had developed a certain routine of exchanging looks about Natsume that communicated various levels of resignation or worry or relief, depending on the situation.

Taki didn't know if she would always be the only person Tanuma could share that with. But for the present, it made her happy that she was.

  
  
*

  
They were sitting on a fallen tree trunk near the river, watching the sky burnish itself with the amber and rose of evening. The mountains around them were still wreathed in the deep green of summer foliage, but they were slowly being studded with patches of colour. Autumn was coming. 

"Natsume-kun hasn't gotten into any trouble with youkai recently, has he?"

"Not that I know of, at least."

"That's good. We won't need to call any emergency meetings then, will we, Tanuma-kun?"

"Doesn't seem like there's any reason for that, Taki."

She laughed, tucking a few stray hairs behind her ear, and glanced at him. He was leaning forward, elbows on knees, large hands locked together under his chin, looking somewhat serious. 

"Do you think, sometimes, that it would be good if we had more friends who also understood Natsume-kun's situation?" She asked this lightly, expecting nothing more than a simple  _ah_ of agreement. "It's nice that we can talk about it, but still, more support would -"

"Maybe I just like spending time with you, whatever's going on with Natsume," Tanuma broke in, quietly, gazing out at the river.

It was unlike him to interrupt, as it was, but his remark was so unexpected that Taki faltered, her eyes widening.

She stared at him; he currently appeared to be studying, with great interest, a clump of wildflowers near his feet.

"Um, Tanuma-kun?" She glanced at her hands, and back at him. "...Really?"

"What if I said yes, Taki?"

"I wouldn't forgive you if you said anything else," she heard herself say, and knew that she meant it.

"That's how it is, then," Tanuma said.

He finally looked at her, his expression a sheepish half-smile. His face, framed by the shaggy ends of his dark hair, had gone soft in a way that made her want to touch it, although it wasn't anything like the furry fluffiness of the animals she adored. She quickly restrained herself, but the feeling was there, now, like a cat occupying a spot in the sun.

No one had ever said anything like that to her before, and it made her unaccountably shy. But she also wanted to hear him say more, in that low, gentle voice.

She didn't mention any of this. Instead, almost as if it were an experiment, she edged towards Tanuma, closing the decorous, person-sized space they'd initially placed between them. Little by little, until they were only a hand's-width apart. She watched the shyness she felt colour his face, and how he reached around to rub the back of his neck, in the way that boys did when they were nervous or unsure of what to do.

Tanuma broke the silence first, each word slow and tentative.

"If you're free this weekend, would you like to go for a walk? There's a beautiful new patch of osmanthus in the forest. It smells amazing. I found it last week - haven't seen it anywhere else yet, and, well. I've been wanting to show someone. Seems a shame to keep it to myself."

"Oh," Taki said, trying to process this fresh surprise, and the wave of sweet, sudden pleasure that accompanied it. "I - uh. Yes? Yes! That sounds lovely."

"We might meet Ponta out there if it's a nice day, too," Tanuma said, the corners of his eyes crinkling up with his smile.

Taki smiled back, studying that new softness in his face, and all it was trying to say. He wasn't making any move to go. On her part, she still had some time before she needed to help with dinner preparations. And she didn't want to be anywhere else, right now.  

Natsume-kun, she thought, channeling some of the warmth she felt in his direction. Thank you for bringing people together, too.

 

 

**Author's Note:**

> The title for this piece references the Chinese characters for Taki and Tanuma's first names, 透 (Tooru) and 要 (Kaname), respectively. 透 suggests perception - being able to see through to the true qualities of things; it also connotes transparency, as the ability to let light through. 要 refers to the frame of a folding fan, the skeleton that supports its ability to open and close; alternately, it can mean the core or backbone of something. I really love how these first names are so evocative of Taki and Tanuma's characters, and their ability to be there to support Natsume and to see him for who he is. I also think they're suuuuuch a compatible pair, the sweethearts (not to mention, onmyouji heritage + Buddhist priest heritage, how sexy is that).
> 
> p.s. There seem so few Tanuma and Taki shippers out there that, if you're one of them and you liked this, I'd love it if you let me know **^^** And if you want a kind of bonus follow-up to this: see [Secret Secret](http://archiveofourown.org/works/12273726/chapters/27896085)


End file.
